Unlike my BFA, I don't blog much.  Not too much to say.  Haven't done a whole lot since I had surgery on April 3.  What they don't tell you is that it is MAJOR surgery and it takes TIME!  The first month is such a blur to me.  I got lots of cards and calls.  Food was brought over by very well meaning and lovely friends.  Pretty much sat around and did nothing, except get up to toddle to the loo!  The interesting thing is, I am having the same surgery again in July.  I have been asked if I am excited for that.  No.  I am not.  I know the 6 week schedule.  It scares me.  Yet, at the same time, I do know what to expect, and being able to walk well is such a plus!   However, are my sweet friends going to get tired of this?  I know it has been a while since I have sewen anything.  The bags at my friends blog, Garage Sale Gal, are so cute!  I know that I want to make a small purse and finish a pair of capris and an Oliver + S outfit for the 18 mo. old grandson.  Plus make 3 pillow cases for the 2 sistahs and 1 daughter that are meeting in Door Co. the end of the month.  I have got to get working!  At the same time, I have some major carpal tunnel issues in both hands.  My right is worse  so it is off to the chiro for that.  I am not sure if this is due to the walker and subsequent cane use;  I am almost off the cane, at least in the house, but still use it outside of the house.  I am now driving--3 weeks today.  I had been in a side swipe accident 2 weeks before the surgery (the carpal could be due to that, too) and so driving makes me very nervous, but I still take the same route to my volunteer job.  The one thing about having surgery in the summer is that you have an excuse to sit in the air conditioning and not have to wear socks.....and have Hubby wait on you, vacuum, do the dishes and the laundry, besides his 40+ hour job! 
Spent the weekend celebrating 38 years of marriage--to the same man.  Thursday found us in Dubuque at the Mandolin Inn.  Friday we went to WI to visit our Atlanta born grandchildren who are up visiting the other grandparents.  Or, I should say, the good grandparents.  This is a long sotry that I will not go into.  Those said grandparents were to be chaps as we interacted with the 2 oldest (their parents and little bro are still in Atlanta), but they did a very good job of letting us actually have some time with the 2 by ourselves.  We got Friday late afternoon and Sat. morning with them.  Well, I do have to leave this as the typing is hard on my right hand.
All from the bush
me

Photos from last summer.

 I guess I am stuck in a rut.  Here are some photos from last summer's trip to the Netherlands.  Then top pic is taken at a bar--cafe in the morning.  We had hot tea in glass glasses w/o handles!  Plus a biscuit.  The next photo is of Hubby's Tante who is 94.  Still in her own place.  A high rise on the 20 something floor!
The last photo is of Hubby's cousin and his wife with me and the lovely MFA.
She is beautiful, don't you think?
What are your plans for Easter?  I have none.  I am having surgery on the 5th, so will be recouping with no plans for  a big to-do.  Hubby will go to his church and I will stay home.
To my BFFA:  Hummmm.  I haven't got anything togehter for a birthday box, it may be very late.
All for now.
From the bush
me

The New Year

Wow.  I had no idea how long it has been since I blogged.  I hope that anyone who actually reads this is having a great new year so far.
Here are a couple of pics of our trip to the Netherlands this summer.
Hubby and I and the MFA.  We took the long route!  However, it was an adventure.  We spent some time with Hubby's relatives and then on to Amsterdam (pronounced; Ahhmsterdhum).  The countryside is really beautiful.  If you think the prairie states are flat, well, you have not been to Holland.  We also went across the main dike that holds the Sea from getting into the country.  We spent a couple of days with MFA before the trip and then got to visit with the grandchildren a short time before taking us to the Atlanta airport.  We went over on the Polish air lines and spent a few hours in the Fredrick Chopin airport.  The guards carry their uzzies and look really mean!  I ended up getting the x-ray treatment in New Jersey!  Not once--but 2 times!  I was hot and tired and positively broken down by that time.  Was not happy, but didn't say what I really wanted to say for FEAR!  In this land of FREEDOM??  There is NO freedom at the airports!
I have been sewing up a storm.  I need to take pictures of the projects and the kit I got recently.  Hey, that is for the next blog.
All from the bush
me

August, 2011

I can hardly believe that this really hot summer is almost over.  I will fill in a bit and explain to you that once again I am having troubles downloading pictures.  I will most like post a bunch and then you will have to sort out what they all are!  In June, after the wedding (and the couple are now pregnant!) we loaded up the truck and U-Haul with things that the MFA bought and selected from our house--to fill her new apartment in Greenville.  We didn't get off from Marion until noon but thankfully Hubby had reserved a room for us in Louisville, at least I think that was where we stayed.  At any rate, I offered to drive some, so as I was driving through  Indiana, Hubby says "watch out for that deer", well, you can figure the rest of the story.  Yup.  Hit it.  But praise the Lord only the deer's back end and the drivers side light, fender and part of the front grill were damaged.  AND hauling a small trailer behind the truck!  Could have been so much worse.  We are so thankful to the Lord for His protection. Sat. we unloaded all the stuff for MFA and then had dinner with some sweet friends.  Another blessing.  Spent the next couple of nights in Greenville then off to Atlanta to drop off cars, see the grands--3 now--and then head to the airport for our trip to Holland.  We spent a couple of days visiting with Hubby's cousin and his wife.  Across the street from their very nice apartment was a "coffee shop".  Well that is nice, you might think, but this one sells "happiness on the end of a weed".  Drugs are for sale in the coffee shops.  They are all over the country.  We spent 1 week in Amsterdam and saw many such shops.  We did stay away from the red light district, however, the souvenir shops are filled with rather indecently shaped salt and peppers and many things that are just plan in poor taste.  We did busy ourselves with trips to the museums.  Saw many Rembrandt's and Van Goghs as well as Vermeers.  The famous "Girl with a pearl" was not in the country as it is in Germany, I think--or Paris.  We took a cannal  tour one evening and that was so educational, and so leisurely.  Beautiful evening for a cruise.  Many buildings in Amsterdam are dated 1604, 1625 etc.  A couple of buildings had a very early date on the left and then on the right were a series of numbers.  I learned later that those are the Jewish dating.  The Jews in the Netherlands are very socialistic and liberal; we had gone to the Jewish Museum or I would not have known that.  The Dutch Resistance Museum was very powerful and told of the strength of the peoples during WWII.  The cafes and shopping were all so much fun.  We did stay at a lovely apartment, in the French Section; the only way to go, especially if there are more than the 2 of you.  MFA came along and we had a blast.  Hopefully I will get some pics posted, esp. of the Holland trip.  Until I can get this all figured out.....
All from the bush
ME

June.

Well here it is June already.  I tried to post with some pictures lately, but with no success.  So I will ramble a bit.  I am attending a great church.  I love the preaching there.  I come home so uplifted and yet I know I need to work on so many areas of my life.  Hubby's Sunday School is studying Transforming Grace.  That is a convicting book, and so filled with hope and grace.  I know that his church will put their spin on it and I am praying that the book will reach the reader and filter out the Keswick theology that the lesson will be sprinkled.  If you do not know what Keswick Theology is, just Google it and read the article from A Time To Laugh blog, it is pretty clear.
OK on to more lighter stuff.  Am sewing like a banshee!  Trying to get some things done...actually, I should be cleaning as the MFA will be home for a short week Wed to Wed.  She is a maid of honor at a friend's wedding and I am working on a dress for her.  In the mean time, I a helping a young gal with a quilting project.  Some of you reading this know that I do not quilt!  However, I always pick up the quilt magazines, if there is a cute quilt or bag or project on the cover.  She picked out a rather challenging quilt, but thankfully it is small.  We are going to Amsterdam for a week and visiting Hubby's relations for a week, doing the countryside.  So I have a few projects that need to be finished as well as started....I always do this to myself.  I procrastinate to the nth degree!  So with that dear reader, I will bid you have a great day.  Read something from God's word today.  Sing a real hymn, you know, from the front of the hymnal, not a gospel song....a real hymn.
From the bush
ME

Old stuff....

I got this wash stand a couple of years ago. It was the right price and the right amount of
peeling paint and sticky drawer and loose boards on the bottom shelf. You know, cool old
stuff! BFA says I need to add more of this type of information about my house in my blogs.
So, this is for her. This is the official plant stand. I have these plants. Several of them. This is
only one of the plant stands. Recently, one of the Christmas cactus plants actually fell off of the stand
it was on! Broke in several places, but it is ok. One of the Christmas cactus plants came from my
mother's house, after we had to put her in the home. This is suppose to be funny, as she always said that. At any rate, it didn't bloom for the longest time. Then one day I told it it had to go out in the compost if it didn't bloom! Well, I guess it didn't want to end up there as it bloomed that year and every year since. The plant in the forground is actually hubby's. It has to go to work with him sometime. He left one job and got another....at his age! What was he thinking?? He travels a lot with this new job. One of these days the dining room with get painted a really bright color, or the master bedroom will get a facelift. Actually, that room has all of the old really ugly rose wallpaper removed. Now, I really like wall paper, and if this room's wallpaper had been cute rather than dated ('80's!), it would have stayed. Choosing a color for a room with pale peach carpet is a challenge. Especially since I want sage-y green and Hubby wants pale cream! Arg! And he will never know. Took down some old wall border in the dining room. Took me some time as I am vertically challenged. I took it down in stages: first the north wall (figured he wouldn't notice) then the west wall, then the south and east at the same time. He still hasn't noticed! And that has been over a year ago! Ah engineers. Ya gotta love 'em.
Spring is around the corner...tomorrow, asctually. Found a great new church and am really enjoying the preaching. The main pastor is, as he puts it, just one of the elders. How humble is that. He is a true man of God. He loves the people and has a heart for God. And hope springs eternal, right?
All I can think of is : Marvelous grace of our loving Lord. Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. What a great song. Hope you find it in the hymnal and read the words. Grace. What a charming sound.
All from the bush
ME

New, newer and old

Good day ya'll. Thought I would post some of the MFA's friends from church. The lovely ladies are in the kitchen working hard at cleaning up, perhaps hamming it up, more than likely. At the MFA's church, they have Sunday School, church, eat lunch together and then have a afternoon service. MFA spent a lot of time looking for the "right" church. One time she called and said she had to get up early for church. I asked her why she was going to such an early service, she answered, because it was less crowded. Being from the mid-west, Iowa where the "good" churches are much smaller than the "good" churches in the south. She was looking for that smaller church, like back at "home". She found one. But the drive is 45 minutes, hence the shorter day.
This little princess is my Lilly. She became a big sister on Jan 29th. Her little Liam was 7#13 and 19". He was almost 3 weeks early, so had to spend some time in the hospital. He is now home and doing well, gaining weight, up over the 8# mark. Told my daughter-in-law that he was up to his "real birth" weight, as opposed to the actual birth weight.
I have not as yet been to see Liam, as I think I told you hubby changed jobs and doesn't have any vacation.
The cost of flight is up, too. So we will see when i get to go down again. I told this when I
was down visiting just before Thanksgiving. I guess she is a great help to her Mom, and Landon
tells Liam all about his day at school. This little guy loves to read. I sent down a package
that included a book for Landon to read to his siblings.
Warm today, in the mid 40's and this is Feb! All of the snow is gone, and we had a lot.
Well, I need to close for today.
Keep walking with the Lord, all the way. Trusting His word.
All from the bush
me